Disclaimer:Crank
does not take responsibility for any inaccurate or just plain wrong information
contained herein. Crank
does, however, happily take responsibility for any deaths and/or injuries
which are the direct result of making this information available to the
public.

Credit: Most
of the raw data and anecdotes in this article were taken from the alt.suicide.holidays
newsgroup. But
I refuse to give them too much credit--it took me days to edit out the
bad grammar, banal comments and inferior Brit spellings.

Notes of Methodology:Most drugs, taken in
large quantity, will induce vomiting. To prevent this, take one or two
anti-histamine tablets (travel sickness, allergy, hay fever tablets, etc.)
an hour before on a fairly empty stomach.

If your poison of choice
is in tablet form, swallow the first 20% as normal. (A larger quantity
may induce vomiting or impede absorption.) Take the remainder with food
or a strong alcohol, crushed or dissolved as appropriate; this will help
the entire dose to hit your system at the same time. Alcohol helps dissolve
the drugs, but don't drink any beforehand! Instead, wash the tablets down
with vodka or a similar spirit, and then drink yourself silly while you're
still conscious.

To increase your odds
of death, secure a large, airtight plastic bag over your head. Also consider
securing a rubber band around your neck. This can bring your odds from
"good" to "almost certain," in case the drugs don't work as expected.

Friday night is a good
time to die, if you live alone--nobody will miss you until Monday morning.
Bolt all the doors and windows, and tell your neighbors or friends that
you'll be away. If you've got a loyal dog, set it free--you just don't
want to be featured on the nightly news as the chump whose dog dialed
9-1-1 and saved his life.

Be aware that people
who regularly use painkillers can develop a tolerance. Increase the dosage
accordingly.

Alcohol

Dosage: VariableTime To Die: About
8 hoursAvailability: Wonderfully
easy to getCertain Death?: UnreliableThe Savvy Suicide:
Drink it all at the same time, as quickly as possible. Will cause
liver and kidney damage if 'rescued' before death. Dosage is questionable.Science Facts: Ingesting
spirits as an enema is supposed to be a very quick way of absorbing alcohol;
even better, inject it. Dosage varies according to method of ingestion,
the individual's tolerance, and the health of the individual's liver.So They Say: "The
fatal dose of pure alcohol in an average adult is 300-400 mL (750-1000
mL of 40% alcohol) if consumed in less than one hour. Apart from the effects
of overdosage, death after alcohol consumption can occur as a result of
choking on vomit while unconscious...Consequences such as liver damage
occur after chronic consumption."

Amobarbital
(amytal, amal,
eunoctal, etamyl, stadadorm)Dosage: 4.5 grams,
typically ninety 50mg tabletsTime To Die: Unconsciousness
in 5-15 minutes; death in 20-50 minutesAvailability: Prescription
onlyCertain Death?: Very
reliableThe Savvy Suicide:
More effective when used with an airtight bag over one's head and
a rubber band around one's neck. Alcohol accelerates the process and increases
reliability.

AspirinDosage:
20-30+ gramsTime To Die: Variable:
hours to daysAvailability: Easy
to getCertain Death?: UnreliableThe Savvy Suicide:
Not recommended. Fatal dose varies wildly, could cause liver &
kidney damage instead of death. Too many cause vomiting. Overdose causes
strange noises in your ears and projectile vomiting after about 10 hours.
Medical help generally effective, so stay out of hospital for a couple
of days. May cause bleeding in your stomach and/or upper intestines. To
speed up absorption, take with sodium bicarbonate (bicarbonate of soda).

Bleach
(also lye, drain cleaning fluids)Dosage: One half
to one literTime To Die: Variable:
hours to daysAvailability: Easy
to getCertain Death?: UncertainThe Savvy Suicide:
This method depends on your stomach corroding, thereby releasing stomach
acids to destroy vital organs. A painful way to go.So They Say: "I
have heard of people throwing themselves through plate glass windows in
their death agonies after drinking lye."

Butabarbital(secbutobarbitone,
butisol, ethnor)Dosage: 3 grams,
typically one hundred 30mg tabletsTime To Die: Unconsciousness
in 5-15 minutes; death in 20-50 minutesAvailability: Prescription
onlyCertain Death?: Very
reliableThe Savvy Suicide:
More effective when used with an airtight bag over one's head and
a rubber band around one's neck. Alcohol accelerates the process and increases
reliability.

CaffeineDosage: 20 gramsTime To Die: UnknownAvailability: Easy
to getCertain Death?: Without
much data or secondhand accounts, the lethality of caffeine remains uncertain.Science Facts: An
average cup of coffee contains roughly 200 mg, as does one caffeine pill
such as Vivarin.

Carbon
MonoxideDosage: 5% concentrationTime To Die: Minutes
to hoursAvailability: Easy
to get: car exhaust, for oneCertain Death?: Fairly
certainThe Savvy Suicide:
Causes brain damage to survivors. Skin becomes fire engine red, making
the coroner's job easy.Science Facts: The
actual cause of death is asphyxiation, since the carbon monoxide binds
tighter to hemoglobin than oxygen does (the oxygen gets crowded out, so
to speak). So They Say: "Urban
legend tells of one couple who tried to kill themselves by filling their
apartment with carbon monoxide. Unfortunately, the heavier-than-air carbon
monoxide leaked through the floor and killed the people in the apartment
below."

Chloral
Hydrate(noctec, chloratex,
somnox)Dosage: More than
10 grams, typically more than twenty 500mg tabletsTime To Die: Info
not availableAvailability: Prescription
onlyCertain Death?: Not
effective by itselfThe Savvy Suicide:
Mix with alcohol and restrict breathing with a bag and rubber band.

Chlorine
gasDosage: UnknownTime To Die: UnknownAvailability: TrickyCertain Death?: GoodThe Savvy Suicide:
Used in World War One, known to be a very unpleasant death.

ChloroformDosage: Unknown
(a soaked rag?)Time To Die: Several
minutesAvailability: Fairly
easy to getCertain Death?: UnknownThe Savvy Suicide:
Victim will become unconscious first, so steps must be taken to ensure
a continued ingestion. Perhaps taping the soaked rag over one's mouth?

CocaineDosage: 1 ounce
(?)Time To Die: 2
to 3 hours (?)Availability: Possibly
difficult; very expensiveCertain Death?: UnknownThe Savvy Suicide:
Cocaine overdose induces a heart attack. Along the way, expect severe
paranoia and breathing problems. It is not uncommon for drug mules to
swallow bags or condoms of cocaine, only to have them accidentally burst
in transit, killing them quite handily.

CodeineDosage: 2.4 grams,
typically eight 30mg tabletsTime To Die: Unconsciousness
in 5-15 minutes; death in 20-50 minutesAvailability: Prescription
onlyCertain Death?: Very
reliableThe Savvy Suicide:
More effective when used with an airtight bag over one's head and
a rubber band around one's neck. Alcohol accelerates the process and increases
reliability. Be warned than tolerance develops with "normal" use.

Cyanide
(HCN, KCN)Dosage: 50 mg
Hydrogen Cyanide gas, 200-300
mg Cyanide saltsTime To Die: Seconds
for gas; minutes for the salts on an empty stomach; possibly hours on
a full stomachAvailability: Very
difficult to secureCertain Death?: Very
certainThe Savvy Suicide:
Instead of ingesting cyanide salt orally, drop 500mg into a strong
acid. The fumes will be pure Hydrogen Cyanide, capable of killing within
seconds.Science Facts: Hydrocyanic
acid is one of the most poisonous substances known; the inhalation of
its fumes in high concentration will cause almost immediate death. Hydrogen
cyanide acts by preventing the normal process of tissue oxidation and
paralyzing the respiratory center in the brain. Most of the accidental
cases are due to inhaling the fumes during a fumigating process. In the
pure state it kills with great rapidity. Crystalline cyanides, such as
potassium or sodium cyanide are equally poisonous, since they interact
with the hydrochloric acid in the stomach to liberate hydrocyanic acid.
This poison has been used for both homicide and suicide; in recent history,
a number of European political figures carried vials of cyanide salt for
emergency self-destruction and some used them. Death resulted from amounts
of only a fraction of a gram. A concentration of 1 part in 500 of hydrogen
cyanide gas is fatal. Allowable working concentration in most of the United
States is 20 ppm. Two and one-half grains of liquid acid has killed. The
acid acts fatally in about 15 minutes. The cyanide salts kill in several
hours. The average dose of solution is 0.1 cc.The Savvy Suicide:
Stomach acids will react with Cyanide salts to form Hydrogen Cyanide,
so an empty stomach is a great advantage.

Gasoline
(inhaled/injected)Dosage: 20 ml
(?)Time To Die: Seconds/minutesAvailability: Very
easy to getCertain Death?: With
correct dosage, a reliable method.So They Say: "You
can also use propane or butane on a skin surface. Go stick your hand in
a bucket of propane and see how many seconds you last..."

HydrazineDosage: As produced
by reaction (see below)Time To Die: Unknown
(2 weeks?)Availability: Easy
to getCertain Death?: Not
knownScience Facts: Commonly
produced by mixing a bottle of bleach and a bottle of ammonia. A fairly
common way for illiterate cleaning people to accidentally kill themselves.So They Say: "Several
years ago at my high school, one of the janitors innocently mixed together
half a bottle of bleach with half a bottle of of ammonia in a small closet
where the cleaning fluids were kept. He passed out due to the hydrazine
gas released in the reaction between the two chemicals. This man was in
agony for two weeks in an intensive care unit in a local hospital with
the majority of the inside surface of his lungs damaged and untreatable
before he got lucky and died."

IronDosage: UnknownTime To Die: UnknownAvailability: Easy
to getCertain Death?: GoodSo They Say: "It
seems that iron pills oxidize in the stomach and eat a hole through it.
The only reason I know this is that someone at my school just recently
overdosed and died from this. It was ruled suicide since no person could
accidentally take that many iron pills. They didn't say how many she took
or how many it takes to kill yourself though."

Malathion
(insecticide)Dosage: A
few bottlesTime To Die: 2
to 3 hoursAvailability: Found
commercially at large garden centersCertain Death?: UnreliableScience Facts: Dosage
to knock off a rat is 1 gram per kilogram of body weight. If that ratio
holds for an adult human, then acquiring the necessary amount might be
too difficult. The Savvy Suicide:
Parathion is recommended as a better insecti-suicide.

Meperidine
Dosage: 3.6 grams,
typically 72 50mg tabletsTime To Die: Unconscious
in 5-15 minutes, death in 20-50 minutesAvailability: Prescription
onlyCertain Death?: Not
effective by itselfThe Savvy Suicide:
Mix it with alcohol and restrict breathing with a bag and rubber band.

Mercury
(salts, soluble)Dosage: 1 gram
of saltsTime To Die: UnknownAvailability: UnknownCertain Death?:
GoodScience Facts: Contrary
to popular opinion, pure mercury metal isn't all that poisonous. The soluble
salts are, however. The "mad hatter" story refers to brain damage that
hat makers used to get from using mercury salts.

MorphineDosage: 200 milligrams,
typically fourteen 15mg tabletsTime To Die: Unconsciousness
in 5-15 min.; death in 20-50 min.Availability:
Prescription onlyCertain Death?: Not
effective by itselfThe Savvy Suicide:
Mix it with alcohol and restrict breathing with a bag and rubber band.
Tolerance develops with use.

NicotineDosage: 100g (?)
extracted from tobacco; 40-60 mg pureTime To Die: Several
hoursAvailability: Easy
to getCertain Death?: Fairly
certain, given a large enough doseThe Savvy Suicide:
Side effects include violent convulsions. The direct cause of death
is respiratory failure. Smokers should use larger doses than non-smokers.
Coma may set in before death.So They Say: "Soak
100 grams of tobacco for a few days. You get a brown mess. Strain off
the tobacco, then simmer slowly until most of the liquid has gone, leaving
about 2 teaspoons of brown treacle-like stuff. Add it to your night-time
drink, and never wake up. Someone once said that 150 mg of pure nicotine
would be fatal in seconds."

Nitrogen
gasDosage: Minimum:
several liters, uncompressedTime To Die: MinutesAvailability: Possible
through plumbing or welding supplierCertain Death?:
CertainScience Facts: While
the victim dies from asphyxiation, it is not a lack of oxygen; rather
an excess of carbon dioxide deals the lethal blow.

Phosphine
gas(From Aluminum pesticide,
ALP)Dosage: 3 gramsTime To Die: About
2 hoursAvailability: Difficult
to getCertain Death?: Very
goodThe Savvy Suicide:
After severe vomiting, the victim loses consciousness, the blood vessels
rupture and body cavities fill with blood. Some escape death because the
efficacy of the gas decreases as the pill ages and is exposed to moisture.Science Facts: There
is no specific antidote to this, so a single 3-gram pill contains enough
ALP, which produces lethal phosphine gas when it comes in contact with
hydrochloric acid or water in the stomach, to kill quite nicely.So They Say: "A
common method for Indian villagers."So They Say: "One
3-gram tablet is enough to kill 10 people."

Potassium
ChlorideDosage: Not known
(20cc injected in a strong solution is recommended)Time To Die: Seconds
to minutesAvailability: Widely
availableCertain Death?: CertainScience Facts: Causes
heart attack, leading to sometimes ambiguous coroner reports. Science Facts: An
excess of K+ in the blood interferes with nerve signals and stops muscles
and nerves from working. When it reaches your heart, you're finished.

Propoxyphene
(darvon, dolotard, abalgin,
antalvic, depronal)Dosage: 2 grams,
typically thirty 65mg tabletsTime To Die: About
one hourAvailability: Prescription
onlyCertain Death?: Fairly
certainThe Savvy Suicide:
This does not make you unconscious. It is suggested that you combine
this drug with a sleeping pill and the bad/rubber band rig.

Warfarin
(Rat poison)Dosage: UnknownTime To Die: Hours
to fatal damage; days to actual fatalityAvailability: Easy
to getCertain Death?: Very
certainScience Facts: According
to speculation, this poison functions by causing severe a cerebral hemorrhage,
since it kills rats by inducing hemophilia. Medical help is said to be
futile; victims are left to die in agony. Skeptics dismiss this as melodramatic
claptrap, citing the good health and ordinary lives of human hemophiliacs.